Adjusting device for flexible gates



W, K. VOORHEES.

ADJUSTING DEVICE FOR FLEXIBLE GATES.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 8, 1921.

' Patented; Sept. 5,1922.

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WALTER K. VOORI'IEES, OF CEDAR FALLS, IOWA,

TUBING COMPANY, OF CEDAR TO STANDARD MANUFAC- FALLS, IQVIA, A. CfiRPQRATION (3F IOWA.

ADJUSTING DEVICE FOR FLEXIBLE GATES.

Application filed April 8,

To all whom it may] concern-.-

Be it known that I, lVALTER K. Voonrrnns, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Cedar Falls, Blackhawk County, Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Adjusting Devices for Flexible Gates, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in adjusting devices for flexible gates, and the object of my improvements is to sl-i'dably mount such a device upon the lower crossbeam of a gate of this type which will permit of easy manual flexing of the gate to any of its elevated positions without interfering withthe operation of the latching means, the gravity of the gate acting automatically upon said device to hold it interlocked therewith releasably in any adjusted position.

This object has been accomplished by the means which are hereinafter described and claimed, and which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figs. 1 and 2 are side elevationsrespectively of a flexible gate in its extreme elevated and lowered positions. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail side elevation of said adjusting device as mounted upon a cross-beam of a gate, the full lines showing the tilted position of the upper clutch member while engaging said beam, and the broken lines showing the position of said member when not in engagement therewith. Fig. 4 is a medial longitudinal section of said upper clutch member and its pintle, and Fig. 5 is aview of said adjusting device as loosely mounted on a beam, the adjusting device being shown in end elevation and the beam in cross section.

Similar numerals of reference denote corresponding parts throughout the several views.

The flexible gate shown in said Figs. 1 and 2 is of a well known type positioned across the interspace of the rear and front posts 15 and 16. The frame of the gate comprises vertically disposed rear and front stiles l3 and 141 connected pivotally near their upper and lower ends by spaced tubular cross-beams 12 and 11, with a wire netting flexibly connected between said beams and said stiles re spectively. The rear stile 13 is hingedly mounted on the rear post 15 while the front stile 14 carries latching-means 17 for releasable engagement with a vertically elon- 1921. Serial No. raster.

gated and spaced catch-rod 18 fixed on said front post 16. i

The numerals l9 and 20 denote like connecting rods or wires whose rear ends are secured to the top of the rear stile 13,,the wires extending thence forwardly and obliquely downwardly or diagonallyalong opposite sides of the gate with their forward ends secured in transversely alined holes 10 in the upright members of the upper clamping member 4-. The adjusting device comprises the two approximately U shaped upper andlower clamping members 4: and 1' respectively. The lower clamping member 1 is formed from a flat bar bent in ti-shape and mounted around the forward part of the lower cross-beam 11 to be longitudinally slidable therealong, with its upright members positioned on opposite sides of the gate. The upper clamping member a likewise has its upright members positioned on opposite sides of the gate, and is pivotally connected to the members of the lower clamping memher 1 by a bolt 2 traversing alined holes 5 and 6 in said clamping members forward of the medial vertical line of the member 4, and secured by a nut 3. The upper member 4 is positioned within the lower member 1 and its cross connecting part 7 is upwardly arched and also shaped so that its under surface has the reVersely-directed longitudinally disposed trough faces 8 and 9 respectively inclined from a lower middle point oppositely upwardly.

To flex the gate to be held in any desired adjusted position within the scope of the actlon of said adjusting device, the forward end of the gate may be manually lifted to permit of longitudinally sliding the device forward or back along the beam 11, as the flexing of the gate thus occasioned slackens the wires 19 and 20 somewhat so that the upper clamping member 4 may rock forwardly enough to position it to be disengaged from said beam, as shown in said Fig ures 3 and 5. When the lower clamping member 1 hasbeen shifted along the beam 11 to the proper position for holding the gate flexed in a certain adjustment, the forward portion of the gate may bereleased, whereby its own gravity acting upon said pivotally connected clampingmembers will cause the upper clamping memberl to tilt rearwardly engaging its under surface 8 with the top of the beam 11 so that the beam 11 is tightly frictionally interlocked with said device.

It will be observed that because of the pivoting or the clamping member l forward of its miodle vertical line and the peculiarly inclined surface 8 of the transverse part 7, the grip of the device is effective over a comparatively large area of the beam.

The use oi? this device does not interfere with lowering the gate so as to actually rest upon the ground, which is often a convenience when the gate is to be thus dropped. and held in any openposition, for the adjusting device may be left in loose relation to the lower beam.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. The combination with a flexible gate having spaced verticallydisposed stiles and spaced cylindrical beams pivotally connected therebetween, of a U-shaped clamping element slidably mounted on one beam, with its spaced members projecting thereabove, another U-shaped fiatbar clamping element with upwardly arched middle part to loosely fit upon said beam, the members or" the second-mentioned clamping element being positioned between the upper parts of the firstmentioned clamping element and pivotally connected forward of their middles to and between the said members of the first-mened on the lower beam, another clamping ele- 7 meat aivotally mounted on the first-mentioned clamping element at the opposite part of the beam, and connecting-means between said secondmentioned clamping element and the upper part of one stile, said second-mentioned clamping element having a clamping member formed with a longitudinally and reversely-directed trough abutting upon and adapted when rocked in one direction to engage the beam with one of its reversely-directed surfaces when the gravity of the gate acts on said beam and clamping elements.

Signed at V'Vaterloo, Iowa, this 10th day of lvlarch, 1921.

FWJJJTER K. VOORHEES. 

